Esme Papa Mends, a former Accra Hearts of Oak midfielder, has criticised management of the Phobians for not renewing the contract of Daniel Afriyie Barnieh all these years to this point.

The Black Stars striker joined the former Ghana Premier League champions in 2019, signing a three-year deal which is expected to expire this month.

According to reports, there has not been any breakthrough in contract renegotiation to extend Barnieh’s future with fears that the young striker may leave the club as a free agent.

Speaking in an interview with Kumasi-based LUV FM, Esme Mends, who was part of the Hearts of Oak league-winning team in the 2009/2010 season, stressed his former club should have convinced Barnieh to renew his contract before December 2022.

“This issue didn’t start today, it started a long time ago, why are we here? Why is this situation up now?" he questioned.

“We as a club, we knew Barniih’s contract will be running out this year, so why did you wait all this while to this point?

“People sign five-year contracts, three-year contracts, in between or just after a year, they call him for renewal to improve the contract.

“The boy kept improving, year-in-year-out, he kept improving so we [Accra Hearts of Oak] were supposed to be smart enough, tie him down.

“What we should know is that, all these players have families, they have people they listen to, they have advisors and they have friends who have travelled outside.

“They see, they hear and they know what they bring when they go outside so when you have such players, you tie them down,” he said.

Since joining Hearts of Oak, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, has won the Ghana Premier League and MTN FA Cup trophies with the rainbow club.